A European Union (EU) court ruled on Thursday that a decision of EU member states to include an Iranian group on its list of terrorist organizations and freeze its funds was wrong.
The Luxembourg-based EU Court of First Instance ruled that the EU decision has violated "the rights of defense" of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) by not communicating to it the new information which, according to the EU member states, justified maintaining it on the list of terrorist organizations; and by refusing to communicate to the court certain information about the case.
Thursday's ruling was the third that the court has ruled against the decision of the EU member states, which included the PMOI on its list of terrorist organizations in 2002 and subsequently took measures to freeze its funds.
Despite a ruling of the court in December 2006, EU member states in July 2008 adopted a new decision which maintained the PMOI's name on the updated funds-freezing list, citing new information that they have obtained.
The court ruled that the EU decision was taken without first informing the PMOI of the new information, therefore violating the PMOI's rights of defense.
The court rejected the EU member states' argument that it was necessary to adopt a new funds-freezing decision so urgently that it was not possible to respect the PMOI's rights of defense.
The court noted that at the request of the French authorities, EU member states refused to communicate to the court the information, which justifies the keeping of the PMOI on the funds-freezing list. The court ruled that the EU member states are not entitled to base the funds-freezing decision on information or material communicated by one member state, if that member state is not willing to authorize its communication to the court.
Source:Xinhua
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